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Official English
Bilingual Education
English on the Job
Citizenship and
   Immigration
Bilingual Ballots
Puerto Rican
    Statehood
Ending E.O. 13166,
   the "Multilingual
   Mandate"

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ph: (703) 816-8821

Currently Active Cases

ProEnglish sues administration over multilingual mandate, Executive Order 13166

ProEnglish, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, and three physicians in private practice, have filed suit against the Department of Health and Human Services to block the implementation of rules saying a failure to communicate with someone in their native language is national origin discrimination. The suit asserts the rules are invalid and unconstitutional, and were never authorized by Congress. Moreover the suit argues they ignore thirty years of court decisions that have consistently rejected the government effort to equate language with national origin. UPDATE: The presiding judge dismissed the suit on the basis of legal standing. But in reaching his decision he ignored legal precedents and the case is now on appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. (Click here for more.)

Landmark ProEnglish Victories

Anderson v. Utah (2001)

ProEnglish wins legal battle as Utah court upholds Official English law

 In 2000, a ballot initiative to declare English to be Utah's official language passed with 67% of the vote. Before the law could take effect, a state court granted an injunction and blocked its implementation in response to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Utah's Multicultural Legal Center. The lawsuit alleged the law violates the "free-speech" and "equal protection" clauses of the Constitution.

The defense of the voter-adopted law put on by Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's office was so weak that Judge Ronald Nehring wondered, "Is there any possible scenario where this initiative could be violated?" The judge then allowed ProEnglish permission to file a brief defending the law, given the abysmal effort mounted by the attorney general's office. When the judge issued his ruling it rejected the ACLU's claims across the board and drew heavily on ProEnglish's legal arguments. Stung by the decision the ACLU filed an appeal with the Utah Supreme Court. But when the deadline came for filing its appellate brief, the ACLU abruptly changed course and refused to press its case, and tried to spin Judge Nehring's decision as a "victory."

Sandoval v. Alexander (2001)

U.S. Supreme Court vacates lower court decision; Alabama's English law survives
 

In 1990 Alabama voters adopted an official English amendment to their constitution via a statewide referendum, which passed by an astounding 9-1 margin, the biggest landslide for any referendum in Alabama's history. As a result of the amendment's passage, state officials changed their policy on drivers' license exams, and began giving them exclusively in English. Six years later Martha Sandoval, a resident alien from Mexico, with help from the Southern Poverty Law Center filed suit in federal court charging that the policy discriminated against her on the basis of her national origin, and was therefore illegal under Title VI of the civil rights law. A judge ruled in favor of Sandoval becoming the first decision to explicitly assert an equation between someone's language and their national origin. With legal assistance from ProEnglish Alabama appealed the decision all the way to the Supreme Court.

When it reached the Supreme Court ProEnglish filed an amicus curiae ("friend-of-the-court") brief , rejecting the claim that language is not synonymous with national origin and pointing out that the Sandoval decision contradicted thirty years of contrary court decisions. Fourteen members of Congress signed on to ProEnglish's brief. In 2001 the Supreme Court ruled for Alabama and vacated the lower court decisions, in effect erasing them from the legal record. But because the court decided the case over the issue of whether or not an individual had the right to sue a state under Title VI (private right of action), the Justice Department and multicultural advocates are claiming that the Sandoval decision is still valid, even though the Supreme Court said it was illegal for it to be filed in the first place. This case illustrates the basic lawlessness of government bureaucracies as well as Congress's failure to exercise its proper oversight responsibilities. Nevertheless, the Sandoval decision was a landmark victory for ProEnglish and other official English advocates who are trying to block the federal government's undemocratic policy forcing multilingualism on the American people.
(Click here for more. )

Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona (1997)

U.S. Supreme Court: official English laws are valid

In 1988, a state employee challenged Arizona's newly enacted Official English initiative, Proposition 106, claiming that she had a First Amendment right to speak any language on the job. A federal judge agreed and overturned it. When the State of Arizona refused to appeal ProEnglish Chairman Bob Park intervened to defend the constitutionality of the official English initiative. After a long series of appeals over the trial judge's ruling that the initiative violated the First Amendment, Park and Arizonans for Official English prevailed at the U.S. Supreme Court, upholding the right of states to have official English laws.
 

But after the Arizona law was upheld under the U.S. Constitution, a state court quickly ruled that the new law violated Arizona's constitution. The decision was appealed but later upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court then refused to review the state courts' decisions. This marks the only time that courts have ruled that an official English law violated a state's constitution, despite a number of similar court challenges.

Hazelton PA official English case

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a complaint in federal court challenging two ordinances adopted by the city of Hazleton PA in August 2006. One ordinance made English the city’s official language and the other dealt with deterring illegal immigrants. ProEnglish assisted the city by drafting its amended English ordinance, and subsequently wrote the city’s initial brief in response to the ACLU complaint. After reviewing the briefs, the ACLU dropped the official English ordinance from its complaint. This was a huge victory and indicates similar city ordinances are very likely to withstand legal attack.  

Past Cases

Alabama official English case

In a narrow 5-4 decision, the Alabama Supreme Court sustained a lower court ruling that state officials were not violating Amendment 509 to the State Constitution, which made English the state’s official language, by giving driver’s license exams in twelve other languages including Farsi, Arabic, Russian, and Chinese. The suit was filed by five Alabama ProEnglish members represented by the Atlanta-based Southeastern Legal Foundation.

The decision turned on the State of Alabama’s contention that plaintiffs had failed to submit evidence that administering the test in multiple languages diminished the role of English as Alabama's common language.

Chief Justice Cobb, writing for the majority, argued that letting people with limited English proficiency take the written exam in their native language helped them get a license, and fostered their assimilation by increasing their access to education, employment and shopping (emphasis added). Justice Bolin, one of the dissenting judges, countered that the effect of the majority decision was “to revise Amendment 509 into a blank paper by [judicial] construction.”
Plaintiffs’ petition for a rehearing was denied 5-4. ProEnglish is currently pursuing a legislative remedy for this issue. 

EEOC v. Kidmans (Arizona)

ProEnglish came to the aid of a small family-owned drive-in restaurant in Page, Arizona after it was charged with illegal discrimination in 2002 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) because the restaurant implemented an English-language workplace policy. The lawsuit alleged the policy, which was adopted to stop sexual and other forms of employee harassment on the job, discriminated against Navajo-speaking bilingual employees on the basis of their national origin. Subsequently Mountain States Legal Foundation was recruited to represent the owners, Richard & Shauna Kidman. ProEnglish continued to assist by providing financial assistance to cover travel and other out-of-pocket costs. Under intense pressure from the presiding judge the case was eventually settled with the Kidmans admitting no guilt. But the settlement blocked hopes of trying the case on its merits. ProEnglish then helped the Kidman’s incorporate their English-on-the-job policy into an overall employment policy which the EEOC declined to challenge.

Ohio free speech case

Mason City, Ohio tavern owner Tom Ullum ran afoul of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC) in 2004 when he posted a sign in his bar window that read “For Service Speak English.” ProEnglish and the Southeastern Legal Foundation joined in defending Mr. Ullum against Commission charges that his sign was “discriminatory” and violated Ohio’s public accommodations law. Mr. Ullum, who habitually used his bar window to express his opinions on a wide range of political and social issues, contended that his sign was protected free speech and that he had never refused service to any customers regardless of their proficiency in English. The case eventually settled with Ullum agreeing to remove his sign and replace it one reading “Here We Speak English.”

ProEnglish legal news archive